Trump Illegally Moved Against Stanford Critics of Israel: Judge

A federal judge in California has delivered a sharp rebuke to the Trump administration's handling of foreign students who criticized Israel's war in Gaza. In a 90-page decision, US District Judge Noel Wise ruled that officials unlawfully used immigration law to arrest and attempt to deport international students over political speech, violating their First and Fifth Amendment rights, the New York Times reports. "Here you can simultaneously hate the content of a person's speech and love the country that cherishes the freedom to allow it," Wise wrote.

Wise, a Joe Biden appointee, effectively struck down a section of immigration law that let the secretary of state expel noncitizens over conduct that could include protected speech, calling it unconstitutionally vague. The case was brought by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression on behalf of the Stanford Daily, which said noncitizen staffers quit or self-censored out of fear of retaliation. The ruling leans heavily on a 2023 Massachusetts decision that found the Trump administration had singled out "pro-Palestine and anti-Israel speech" on campuses.

In the Stanford case, per the Times, immigration agents arrested student activists after Secretary of State Marco Rubio labeled them threats to US foreign policy and approved visa revocations. In a post on X, per the AP, George Porteous, the editor-in-chief of the Daily, said: "The reporters in our newsroom shouldn't have to fear that writing a story will result in their deportation. Today's victory means they won't have to.